Peach IPA, a few questions.

[mixmasterob]

Had this idea the other day and decided to try and formulate something. Here is what I came up with so far, pretty standard IPA.

7lbs Light LME
2lbs Wheat DME
8oz C-10
8oz Carapils

1.5oz Summit (14%) @ 60
0.5oz Summit (14%) @ 20
0.5oz Centennial (9.4%) @ 20
0.5oz Summit (14%) @ 10
0.5oz Centennial (9.4%) @ 10
1.0oz Centennial (9.4%) @ 5
1.5oz Summit (14%) @ 0

US-05

Now, about the peach. I was thinking about making a puree from 5-6 pounds of peaches and adding it straight to primary and let it go for 2-2.5 weeks. I like to avoid secondaries but I can see it may being the best bet for something like this. I am going for some subtle peach flavors but nothing over the top. Just enough to notice. Any ideas? Hop overload?

 

[slowbie]

Peel the peaches before you use them.

 

[mixmasterob]

Peel the peaches before you use them.

Genius.

 

[slowbie]

Thanks. What's your batch size? And are you doing a full or partial boil? If partial, how much are you boiling?

Assuming a five gallon batch, if you're doing a full boil I think your hop schedule looks pretty good. I'm not very familiar with Summit hops (although the description I found online sounds pretty good) but I'm a big fan of centennial as late addition hops.

As far as amount of peaches, it kind of depends on what you're looking for. Are you looking for a peach flavored IPA or are you looking for an IPA with a hint of peach flavor? I would go with 3-6 pounds of peaches depending on what you're looking for. I think you could just add them to primary after fermentation. In the beer I did that's linked above I added half before fermentation and did half in secondary (I mostly just did secondary to get rid of the first round of peaches.

I'd also consider taking out a pound of DME because you're pretty up there in IIPA territory (again, assuming a five gallon batch).

 

[GuldTuborg]

For what it's worth, I've heard several brewers and meadmakers say that real peaches tend to fade away (in taste) or worse during the fermentation process. I'm wanting to say Mosher (Radical Brewing) suggested using apricots instead for a more peach-like flavor in the finished product, but I could be misremembering the source. I'll double check when I get home tonight, if you're interested. I don't mean to be a killjoy, but given the number of people that I've heard or read stating that using peaches just plain sucks, I'd hate for you to have to learn this the hard way. I have no personal experience in brewing with peaches, so take this all with a grain of salt; I'd just advise you to look into the matter and make sure you want to go through with it.

 

[mixmasterob]

Haha so you were weren't just joking. Indeed, 5 gallon batch, most likely a partial boil (3.5 gallons). Did you make a puree or just use the peaches whole? I just did some research and a 3lb can of peach puree is around $17. A bit steep but may be the way to go.

In the end I just want hints of peach flavor, but def. noticeable to a degree.

Were you able to salvage that Peach Wheat?

 

[mixmasterob]

For what it's worth, I've heard several brewers and meadmakers say that real peaches tend to fade away (in taste) or worse during the fermentation process. I'm wanting to say Mosher (Radical Brewing) suggested using apricots instead for a more peach-like flavor in the finished product, but I could be misremembering the source. I'll double check when I get home tonight, if you're interested. I don't mean to be a killjoy, but given the number of people that I've heard or read stating that using peaches just plain sucks, I'd hate for you to have to learn this the hard way. I have no personal experience in brewing with peaches, so take this all with a grain of salt; I'd just advise you to look into the matter and make sure you want to go through with it.

Thanks, I will no doubt do some good research before making any final decisions.

 

[slowbie]

Haha so you were weren't just joking. Indeed, 5 gallon batch, most likely a partial boil (3.5 gallons). Did you make a puree or just use the peaches whole? I just did some research and a 3lb can of peach puree is around $17. A bit steep but may be the way to go.

In the end I just want hints of peach flavor, but def. noticeable to a degree.

Were you able to salvage that Peach Wheat?

If you're doing a 3.5 gallon boil I would definitely drop a pound of DME to keep the IBU/OG ratio better. For my peaches I chopped them up into ~3/8" cubes and froze them overnight. Freezing is supposed to help break down cell walls. I'm still in process on my peach wheat and trying to figure out a solution, but I tasted a sample yesterday and it is a very strong peach flavor. I used 3 lbs. of peaches in a 2.5 gallon batch though. I think for my personal preference I would aim for 4-5 lbs. in a 5 gallon batch.

Here is the recipe I based my beer on and it has some good discussion about using peaches in beer.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/summers-end-peach-wheat-77232/

Here's another thread I found while searching for the recipe I used:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/how-much-peaches-add-secondary-peach-wheat-185619/

A search would probably help you find more.